UPS Airlines takes redelivery of first upgraded A300(F)

UPS Airlines (5X, Louisville Int’l) has taken redelivery of the first of fifty-two A300-600Fs featuring upgraded avionics, extending the freighters’ service lives by at least 20 years. N173UP (msn 868) was withdrawn from the logistics firm’s revenue service in February 2019 and subsequently ferried to Toulouse Blagnac for the modifications. Airbus together with Honeywell Aerospace installed a flight management computer (FMC), cockpit displays, weather radar, and other updates in the world’s first such upgrade of the A300. The old FMC had such limited memory that it could not store navigational data for the entire United States, forcing the carrier to manually upload new data between flights in a process that extended the turnaround time by 45 minutes, Director of Engineering Ed Walton told Bloomberg. The upgrade will, therefore, significantly improve the carrier’s productivity. The aircraft was ferried back via Bangor to Mobile Downtown over the course of January 19-21, 2021, Flightradar24 ADS-B data shows. UPS Airlines said it took formal redelivery of the twinjet on February 3. According to the ch-aviation fleets advanced module, UPS Airlines currently owns and operates fifty-two A300-600Fs. None of the remaining 51 has entered the upgrade process yet. While UPS Airlines declined to outline the timeline for the upgrade of the entire subfleet, works on other aircraft are expected to take much less than it did for N173UP. Upgrades are also expected to be performed at various MRO bases and not just in Toulouse. UPS Airlines’ A300-600Fs are 18.2 years old on average. The carrier’s fleet includes some of the last units of the type ever produced, although not the absolute final ones – the last six A300s were delivered to FedEx Express (FX, Memphis Int’l). A total of fifty-three A300-600Fs were delivered to UPS Airlines directly from Airbus between 2000 and 2006. N155UP (msn 841) crashed near Birmingham, AL airport in August 2013 and was damaged beyond repair. UPS Airlines is currently the world’s largest A300-600F operator. FedEx Express operates 42 such aircraft, although it also operates 43 converted A300-600(F) and A300-600R(F)s – which UPS does not have.